Set Game

From glossy magazine advertisements to cellphone downloads to pages from books on art history,Dhar has used everyday images to depict consumerism in his first solo in the Capital. Kitsch dominates a large part of his work. If Celeb is a comment on the Facebook celebrity culture,Sweetie Darling is a digital print on canvas that refers to Andy Warhol’s pictures of Marilyn Monroe. In his works,transgendered people also replace celebrities. Twinkle Twinkle ponders upon the role of the eunuch in the age of social networking. “They are perceived in a grey zone,no-one wants to annoy them and,at the same time,no-one wants to associate with them,” says Dhar,who was one of the first South Asian men in New York to come out of the closet in 1979.

The title of the exhibition is derived from a parlour game played by Surrealists — it involves passing around a piece of paper,where each player draws an image without knowing what the others have made. “Ultimately,the final image is open to individual interpretations,” says Dhar,adding,“Likewise,I want each viewer to have an opinion about my show.”

In some works,Dhar has left a part of the canvas blank for visitors to the exhibition to fill. For instance,the canvas Duniya,where he had painted the words “Duniya Ne Humko Diya Kiya” has led to reactionary statements from viewers like “we should be reasonable” and “bahut liye,ab dene ki baari hai”. “I am happy that people are responding,” says Dhar. The exhibition ends on December 14. Contact: 41504521